Sitting down with Kenny Mayne at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

The former ESPN host and Kent native talks women’s sports, Seahawks, the Supersonics and his foundation that works with a local prosthetics expert.

Sitting down with Kenny Mayne at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

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Paris Jackson

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Paris Jackson Jun 15, 2026

Jun 15, 2026

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          <article>
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              <hgroup>
                <h1>Sitting down with Kenny Mayne at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival</h1>
                <h2><p>The former ESPN host and Kent native talks women’s sports, Seahawks, the Supersonics and his foundation that works with a local prosthetics expert.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/paris-jackson/">Paris Jackson</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jun 15, 2026</time></p>
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            <blockquote><em>Each&nbsp;week on The Newsfeed,&nbsp;host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists&nbsp;dive deep into one&nbsp;topic and&nbsp;provide&nbsp;impactful&nbsp;reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.</em></blockquote><p>In early June, the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival brought together newsmakers and journalists from across the country to talk about the issues shaping our communities and world.&nbsp;</p><p>During one session,&nbsp;host Paris Jackson&nbsp;sat down with former ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne, who grew up in Kent and has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest.&nbsp;</p><p>All this week,&nbsp;we’ll&nbsp;be bringing you segments from that conversation.&nbsp;</p>
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<blockquote>By <a href="https://www.cascadepbs.org/author/paris-jackson/" rel="noreferrer">Paris Jackson</a></blockquote><p>Kenny Mayne:&nbsp;My friend Chris Cashman&nbsp;always says,&nbsp;Kent is where people from Seattle store their things.&nbsp;But&nbsp;we're&nbsp;proud of Star Lake, anybody South 272?&nbsp;So&nbsp;I was born in Tacoma,&nbsp;as&nbsp;were you.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Paris Jackson, Cascade PBS:</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Same.&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>I&nbsp;mean,&nbsp;I'm&nbsp;so old, you know, God bless Lenny Wilkins, rest in peace.&nbsp;I grew up watching him.&nbsp;He was my favorite player.&nbsp;My dad used to work at United at the airport, and&nbsp;he'd&nbsp;make friends with&nbsp;the different&nbsp;travelers.&nbsp;So&nbsp;we would drive some of the NBA officials to the&nbsp;game,&nbsp;they’d&nbsp;save their taxi money,&nbsp;we’d&nbsp;get free tickets.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>People know you from your ESPN 27-year career run, but you could have been Kenny Mayne of PBS.&nbsp;Tell us about your journey starting out with PBS.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>Well, I went to, first I walked on at&nbsp;(the University of)&nbsp;Washington...&nbsp;then I walked off.&nbsp;I&nbsp;wasn't&nbsp;gonna&nbsp;beat out Warren Moon that year, okay? Or Tom Flick for that matter.&nbsp;</p><p>Then I went to Wenatchee&nbsp;(Valley)&nbsp;College, and then I went to UNLV.&nbsp;I actually had a tryout with the Seahawks.&nbsp;I signed&nbsp;outta&nbsp;college, but I&nbsp;failed the physical.&nbsp;</p><p>But right before that, um, I was finishing at UNLV.&nbsp;(Studying)&nbsp;Broadcasting, political science journalism.&nbsp;I was&nbsp;gonna&nbsp;be all serious.&nbsp;I wanted to work for&nbsp;PBS,&nbsp;I&nbsp;didn't&nbsp;want to do what I ended up doing, it just&nbsp;kind of happened.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;And I worked for the PBS station, KLVX&nbsp;(in Las Vegas).&nbsp;Lee Winston, you know, the moderator of the three o'clock Sunday show that you all loyal viewers watch wherever you live. And I would do the setup story&nbsp;= not&nbsp;very good, by the way.&nbsp;Like if we looked at that now, it would be very funny to play it back.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>&nbsp;We all</strong>&nbsp;<strong>gotta</strong>&nbsp;<strong>start somewhere.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;Oh&nbsp;yeah.&nbsp;</p>
          </article>

Each week on The Newsfeed, host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists dive deep into one topic and provide impactful reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.

In early June, the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival brought together newsmakers and journalists from across the country to talk about the issues shaping our communities and world.

During one session, host Paris Jackson sat down with former ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne, who grew up in Kent and has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest.

All this week, we’ll be bringing you segments from that conversation.

By Paris Jackson

Kenny Mayne: My friend Chris Cashman always says, Kent is where people from Seattle store their things. But we're proud of Star Lake, anybody South 272? So I was born in Tacoma, as were you.

Paris Jackson, Cascade PBS: Same.

I mean, I'm so old, you know, God bless Lenny Wilkins, rest in peace. I grew up watching him. He was my favorite player. My dad used to work at United at the airport, and he'd make friends with the different travelers. So we would drive some of the NBA officials to the game, they’d save their taxi money, we’d get free tickets.

People know you from your ESPN 27-year career run, but you could have been Kenny Mayne of PBS. Tell us about your journey starting out with PBS.

Well, I went to, first I walked on at (the University of) Washington... then I walked off. I wasn't gonna beat out Warren Moon that year, okay? Or Tom Flick for that matter.

Then I went to Wenatchee (Valley) College, and then I went to UNLV. I actually had a tryout with the Seahawks. I signed outta college, but I failed the physical.

But right before that, um, I was finishing at UNLV. (Studying) Broadcasting, political science journalism. I was gonna be all serious. I wanted to work for PBS, I didn't want to do what I ended up doing, it just kind of happened.

And I worked for the PBS station, KLVX (in Las Vegas). Lee Winston, you know, the moderator of the three o'clock Sunday show that you all loyal viewers watch wherever you live. And I would do the setup story = not very good, by the way. Like if we looked at that now, it would be very funny to play it back.

We all gotta start somewhere.

Oh yeah.

Paris Jackson

By Paris Jackson

Paris Jackson is the host of “The Newsfeed”. She’s an Emmy Award-winning journalist with 15+ years in TV news and public media. A former anchor/reporter at KOMO-TV in Seattle. She is an editor-at-large at Cascade PBS. Paris-jackson@cascadepbs.org

Paris Jackson is the host of “The Newsfeed”. She’s an Emmy Award-winning journalist with 15+ years in TV news and public media. A former anchor/reporter at KOMO-TV in Seattle. She is an editor-at-large at Cascade PBS. Paris-jackson@cascadepbs.org